Nadal knocked out of Australian Open

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Rafael Nadal lost to Fernando Verdasco in the first round of the Australian Open, an unprecedentedly early exit at Melbourne Park for the 14-time Grand Slam winner and a reversal of their epic, 5-hour, 14-minute semi-final here six years ago.

Fernando Verdasco rallied from a 2-1 deficit to win the last two sets, recovering a break in the fifth as well, and claim a 7—6 (6), 4—6, 3—6, 7—6 (4), 6—2, only his third victory in 17 matches against his fellow Spanish lefthander.

Nadal won his only Australian title in 2009 after beating Verdasco in the semifinals. His only other first—round exit in a major was at Wimbledon in 2013.

Verdasco went for everything on his ground strokes, ripping 90 winners against only 37 for Nadal as he worked to the extremes to unsettle his former No. 1—ranked rival.

“To win against Rafa here coming from two sets down is unbelievable,” the 32—year—old, No. 45—ranked Verdasco said. “I think I played unbelievable the fifth set from the break that he made me, I just started hitting winners. I don’t know how, just, you know I was closing the eyes and everything was coming in and I keep doing it and I was doing well.”

A winning service return from Verdasco ended the match in 4 hours, 41 minutes.

“Well I think 2009 was maybe the only day in my life that I hit 4, 5 hours,” Verdasco said, looking at the clock beside the court to compare it with their semifinal meeting. “It was 35 minutes shorter today I didn’t want to make it longer.”

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Nadal is truly greatest of current generation: Amritraj

Backing Rafael Nadal to come back strong next year, former Indian ace Vijay Amritraj on Sunday said the Spanish star is the greatest of the current generation and will continue to play unbelievable tennis as long as he stays healthy.

“Actually, nothing much (has happened to Nadal). He made the world finals in London which means he is the world’s best player ... As long as he is healthy he will play unbelievable tennis. He will come back extremely strongly next year, I think,” Amritraj told PTI in an exclusive interview on the sidelines of IIMBUE 2015 — IIMB Alumini Leadership Summit — in Bengaluru.

Amritraj said Nadal is ranked among the Top-5 players in the world as he has won fourteen Grand Slams.

“I don’t think you can pick anything from him. He is a great champion. He has won 14 Grand Slams. He is ranked among Top Five in the world, nothing has happened to him ... He is truly greatest of current generation,” he said.

Nadal’s performance has come under the scanner by experts around the world with critics arguing that the Spaniard’s graph is on the wane.

Nadal, who last won a Grand Slam title at Roland Garros 2014, did not win a major in 2015. The most shocking loss came when the ‘King of Clay Court’ was defeated by Novok Djokovic in French Open.

His other Grand Slam — US Open, Australian Open and Wimbledon — exits in 2015 all had major elements of surprise also.

Asked about the line-up for great contests next year, Amritraj said Djokovic is the front-runner for winning major titles. “If you look at 2016 line-up you have to keep Djokovic in the front row, and then everyone else follow. The (preferential line-up) after Djokovic will be Federer, Nadal, Andy Murray and Stan Wawrinka,” he said.

“Nobody has won grand slam except Djokovic last year. Only guy to beat him in the French final was Warwinka. So who are the nearest competitors? These two — Federer and Nadal. Similarly Murray and Wawrinka are there. There would be others who will come along who can cause upsets,” Amritraj added.

Asked about Murray’s prospects, Amritraj said there is less pressure on him after winning a couple of Grand Slams, Wimbledon and then guiding Great Britain to win Davis Cup Team Trophy for the first time since 1936.

“I think the Davis Cup win gave him incredible amount of confidence and inspired him to individually do better next year. He has won a couple of Grand Slams, and knows what it is to win Wimbledon. Earlier, he did not have them in his kitty — all those monkeys are off his back now. He can play loose and freer. I think there is less pressure on him,” he said.

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Djokovic beats Berdych to reach semis at ATP finals

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Novak Djokovic only needed a set. The Serb No. 1 rarely settles for less than two, though, especially against one of his favorite opponents.

Djokovic reached the semifinals of the ATP World Tour Finals by extending his dominance over Tomas Berdych, beating the Czech player 6-3, 7-5 on Thursday in their last round-robin match and stay on course for a fourth straight title.

Earlier, Roger Federer overcame a stubborn Kei Nishikori to finish the round-robin stage unbeaten and claim first place in the group.

Under the tournament’s tiebreaker rules, Djokovic would have advanced even if he lost in three sets, which would have left both players with a 1-2 record. That meant there was little left to play for after he broke for a 5-3 lead in the first and then served out the set.

Djokovic didn’t let up, though, breaking for 6-5 in the second and improving his career record against Berdych to 21-2. He has beaten the Czech five times in the last six years at the ATP finals.

That history might have given Djokovic an edge on the key points at the O2 Arena, he said.

“I know that because I’ve had many close matches with him, because I’ve won so many times against him, maybe there is this factor of a mental edge,” Djokovic said, “maybe an advantage in important moments, decisive moments where I’m able to stick around and stay tough and believe that I can actually win.”

“It’s a fact that he’s been playing better and he’s been raising his level ever since the U.S. Open,” Djokovic said of Nadal. “I know that, I’ve been watching. I know what is expecting me. We played so many times. I’m going to get ready for that one and hopefully I’ll be able to play at my best.”

In the early session, Federer struggled to put away Nishikori before winning 7-5, 4-6, 6-4 and sending the Japanese player home early.

Federer, playing with a weeklong stubble, faced more questions after the match about his beard than about the struggles with his serve that saw him broken five times. Wil it stay as long as he keeps winning?

“If it itches too much, I’ll take it off,” Federer said. “If my girls can’t stand it, I’ll take it off. If I look in the mirror and I don’t like it, I’ll take it off. Maybe I’ll think of Santa and keep it. It’s around the corner. I don’t know yet.”

As for his wife, Mirka, “she’s fine with it.”

“I mean, she’s OK, I guess,” he added. “I do take decisions by myself sometimes.”

Federer broke for a 3-1 lead in all three sets but Nishikori came back each time, taking advantage of some rare mishits by the Swiss star along the way. But Nishikori finally ran out of comebacks as Federer earned his sixth break of the match in the last game, clinching the win with a smash.

While Federer had already advanced to the semifinals, he never there was no let-up in the third set even as Nishikori kept finding ways of getting back into the match.

“It’s just another match, a really important one for me, to move on with a good feeling,” Federer said. “There’s (ranking) points on the line and prestige, wanting to beat Kei, winning at the O2. I want to do well here.”

Nadal’s a big threat again, says Federer and Djokovic

Rafa Nadal will be pose a significant grand slam threat again next year after showing signs of returning to his best, according to two of the Spaniard's greatest rivals.

Spaniard Nadal slumped to 10th in the world rankings this year after a crisis of confidence and form, but since a third-round defeat at the U.S. Open by Italian Fabio Fognini he has rediscovered his old spark.

So far this week at the ATP World Tour Finals he has beaten world number four Stanislas Wawrinka and number two Andy Murray, without dropping a set to reach the semi-finals with a match to spare, where he will face world number one Novak Djokovic.

Serbia’s Djokovic, who trails Nadal 23-22 but has won all three matches this year, says the 29-year-old is over his slide.

"You can feel that he's starting to get comfortable on the court, starting to play better,” Djokovic said.

“The couple of matches, first couple of matches he played here against Wawrinka and Murray showed that, showed that he feels more confident, shows that he's starting to miss less, serve efficiently, use his forehand much better.”

Seventeen-time major champion Roger Federer has suffered at the hands of Nadal more than any other player, losing 23 of their 34 contests, and fully expects the Mallorcan to continue his form into 2016, providing he stays fit.

“Maybe for his standard it's not the best season. What is he going to finish, top five? It's still a good season,” said the Swiss. “Everybody would take that except maybe a few players at this tournament. The rest would all love to be in his shoes.

“I think he's going to get stronger. With some time to practice and reassess his game, he's going to be tough to beat in Australia. I believe that.”

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Wawrinka knocks out Murray, Nadal still unbeaten

Britain’s Andy Murray can focus fully on next week’s Davis Cup assignment in Belgium after Stanislas Wawrinka sent him packing from the ATP World Tour Finals at the O2 Arena on Friday.

The concluding round-robin match at the year-ender had become a straight knockout between the two players after Rafael Nadal had already sealed top spot in Ilie Nastase Group, and Wawrinka looked the sharper as he won 7-6(4) 6-4.

Earlier, Nadal spent two hours and 36 minutes beating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer 6-7(2) 6-3 6-4 to make sure he went into Saturday's semifinal against world number one Novak Djokovic with a 100 per cent record so far this week.

Wawrinka will face Stan Smith Group winner Roger Federer, who like Nadal was unbeaten in group play.

Murray and Wawrinka were both guilty of numerous careless errors, Murray in a first-set tiebreak that he led 4-2.

His Swiss opponent then wobbled towards the end and nearly let slip a 5-2 lead, having to save two break points when he served for the match for a second time at 5-4.

World number two Murray, who smashed a frame in anger in the final game, said the proximity of next week's Davis Cup final on a claycourt in Ghent had not been a factor in his defeat.

“Way too many errors. Cheap ones, as well. Disappointing,” the 28-year-old, who fell at the group stage for the second year running, told reporters.

“I didn't find it difficult not thinking about the Davis Cup final, to be honest. Obviously the only positive for me this week is I've come away from it injury-free.

“Now I have a couple more days to get ready for Belgium.”

Murray was straight back on court afterwards, taking out his frustration in a knockup with coach Jonas Bjorkman on a deserted centre court as cleaners picked up litter in the stands.

With Nadal already in the semi-finals and Ferrer going home after two defeats, the clash of the Spaniards had no impact on the tournament but the packed arena was treated to the longest match of the tournament so far.

It looked as though Nadal might be in for an easy ride when he won 10 of the first 11 points, breaking Ferrer twice, but his 33-year-old opponent is renowned as one of the sport's best battlers and he hit back to win a tiebreak.

World number five Nadal, who had already beaten fourth-ranked Wawrinka and Murray, buckled down though and levelled the match before breaking the Ferrer serve in the final game of the contest.

“It should be like this,” Nadal, who has been transformed since a modest summer, told reporters.

“Doesn't matter if I was qualified. For me the main goal is to try to arrive in good shape next year. Today was an opportunity to play against another of the top eight players of the world.

“I think I competed well. I won a very tough match. I think a very good match in terms of quality moments.”

In the doubles, Ivan Dodig and world number one Marcelo Melo beat Marcin Matkowski and Nenad Zimonjic to set up a semifinal against Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea.

Second seeds Jean-Julien Rojer and Horia Tecau will face the Bryan twins after beating French duo Pierre-Hugues Herbert and Nicolas Mahut.

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Paes-Nadal ousted from Paris Masters

Indian tennis ace Leander Paes’ much touted partnership with Spanish great Rafael Nadal did not deliver the expected result as they suffered a shock men’s doubles first round loss, that too in straight sets, at the Paris Masters in Paris.

Experienced British-Swedish pairing of Dominic Inglot and Robert Lindstedt took just an hour and three minutes to beat Paes and Nadal 6-3, 6-4 at the Palais Omnisports on Tuesday.

Though Paes and Nadal got a break of serve in the opening set, they were themselves broken twice by Inglot and Lindstedt which was enough to seal the set for the latter pair.

The second set was another straight one for the winning pair who broke Paes and Nadal once — enough to bag the set and match and enter the second round.

An important factor that turned the match in favour of Inglot and Lindstedt was the number of aces (9) fired down the throat of Nadal and Paes, who in turn could not conjure up even a single one.

Indo-Romanian eighth seeds Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea will take on the Colombian pairing of Juan Sebastian Cabal and Robert Farah in the second round of the $ 3.5 million tournament on Wednesday after receiving a first round bye.

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